#well maybe aside from the child freedom fighter/politician bit but all things considered it was inevitable | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kendrixtermina · 5 years

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This podcast is solid gold.

I mean we all talk about how Rebecca’s personal life wound up in the show with their relationship with their brother,, her own experiences with gender and sexual orientation and longtime love of Nerd Media, but the bits out Ian are really stunning, especially when you consider the show’s political subplot- Ian’s grandparents were apparently actual freedom fighters back in Ghana and significant political figures over there -

He compares Steven’s upbringing as a half-alien to his own life as the child of immigrants, speaks about growing up in the shadows of these famed figured who had been considered heroes but also been, well, politicians, and how they were still normal people with emotions, and how some of them may have tried to reinvent themselves and shake off that baggage in the new country to give their children new life.

I never considered it this way, I kind of saw those elements as strictly conceptual. It sure implies that these people know what they’re talking about. It sure explains why many elements that merrican purists decry as “immature” are actually in line with, say, ted talks by people who actually battle war and extremism.

How come no one ever talked about this? I’d heard that the Kofis were Ghanan because someone on the crew was and proposed that idea but this goes way further.

That’s always been something unique about the show, that they think about this mix of heavy-duty sci-fi concepts and relatable experiences.

Other intriguing bits:

They confirm what was always my impression that Rose treated Amethyst as a daughter and kind of tried to give her the freedom she never had & have her grow up without knowing of the hierarchy - and how that ended up backfiring when she actually encountered bigots.

I thought she may have considered experimenting with replicating a human family structure but after knowing that gems are probably made from Diamond juice and how excited Pink was to actually interact with her gems on a friendly basis, it takes on a somewhat different note. I mean Amethyst always sort of acted like Steven’s sister no DNA could make her more of a sister to him than she already is, but if you think about it they actually are related, even if the Diamonds are normally more like insect Hive Queens than parents.

They say they wrote Bismuth as someone who was still in no-holds-barred war-mode when she got out of the bubble, so maybe her more “radical/ballistic” actions early on could be seen in that light

They also characterized her as someone who wants to protect her friends over all else. I mean, that’s how I kinda always knew that if she’s ever adressed again, she would be redeemed - I mean even in her first episode where she’s all rambo and proposes murdering anyone who disagrees (Steven included), she is SO supportive and encouraging of everyone around her, especially Amethyst and Pearl. The loss of her comerades might have driven her to a short-circuit reaction because war is ugly, and she’s got a bit of an edge as an ideologue, IRL she’d probably be an outspoken political tumblr type, but just from the way she goes out of her way to make others feel included it’s clear that she couldnt be truly evil.

Besides, I think the show will benefit from having this edgier, more distrustful, passionate teammate in the mix. For example, now Steven has someone to ask for help XD

In that sense Bismuth and Rose are actually ironically alike - when great admiration shatters, the pendulum often swings far back into the other direction. They imply that between being disappointed in Yellow and Blue, and being shocked/guilty that she almost cheerfully de-juiced an inhabited planet, she talked lots of shit about the Diamonds as “Rose” - in particular its implied that the tale of CacklingVillain!Pink as seen in Gemcation and “Your Mother and Mine” is a product of Rose’s guilt and shame

We could analyze this furthers - laughing at the concept of saving humans sounds like something White Diamond would do. The bits about Pink being cowardly and incompetent could also be some internalized guilt about sucking at being a Diamond.

I think that most of the parts involving “Rose” actually happened pretty much as depicted, Pink was just incognito, and later told Garnet a ‘censored’ version. Maybe even the conversation happened, but instead of “Rose” talking to “Pink”, it was Pink talking to White.

They also lampshaded that this essentially led to Rose unwittingly driving herself into a situation where all her friends were basically telling her that she should die. No wonder she felt like she could never tell them the truth.

They also imply further backstory tho, probably whatever happened to Pink Pearl

I actually feel like rewatching the early episodes & trying to see it through the “immigrant family” lens. Indeed they belong to some culture that Steven knows little about since he grew up on earth.

While my parents are about as European as they come, their families had been living in the Carribean and it was only after I was born that they returned here, because they were fleeing dictatorship and famine, and they’d often tell us about how much everything sucked back on their island, how my father was discriminated against for being catholic, and how they had to “unlearn” a lot of survival mechanisms, like, the friend who ended up becoming my brother’s godmother would have to remind them that its okay to criticise the government out loud. My mom used to get super excited about bein able to eat tomatoes and

It’s just that all that happened when I was too young to remember.

I always identified completely with the place I grew up in because it’s all I knew and I liked it, and besides I knew nothing of that other place, like, I was always keenly aware that my parents lived through all that sucky stuff, but not me, that I was very lucky compared to them and couldn’t even imagine it and I figured that with my personality I wouldn’t have lasted long in a place where you can’t say what you think, so I felt like it would be presumptious to claim other people’s suffering or stuff I knew nothing about

Besides it sounded like something very far away, but now I realize that it actually would have been pretty recent for my parents at the time I actually started remembering things.

It’s just really weird to think about it in that context...

Anyways tangent aside Ian Quartey-Jones’ story should really get WAAAY more attention

#steven universe #bismuth #pink diamond

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